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21 Mar 2007 : Column 1024W—continued
Running the national health service on that basis would have an enormous negative impact on both the quality and cost of care including medication errors; patient procedures being cancelled due to lost X-ray
films; out-patient appointments not being kept because patients have little or no say over their date and time; and, because records cannot be located, countless patients being subjected to unnecessary repeat diagnostic procedures, and hundreds of millions of pounds a year to be wasted on uncontested clinical negligence claims.
As for costs, as a result of the national programme some £4.5 billion has been saved by aggregate central procurement of systems rather than local procurement, and a further £860 million of savings achieved through centrally negotiated enterprise-wide arrangements. Before the national programme, money was devolved locally for investment against agreed national targets for electronic health records systems, an arrangement which both the National Audit Office and the Public Accounts Committee have severely criticised because the money was often not spent as intended, but diverted to meet other NHS priorities.
The national programme, with the spine database at its core, is not just about IT. It is a transformation programme for the NHS that will underpin system reform. Only a ubiquitous, effective, national IT system of the kind it is putting in place across the NHS can
deliver key reforms such as patient choice, the 18-week referral to treatment patient pathway, whilst at the same time retaining flexibility to adapt to, and adopt, future policy.
NHS: Negligence
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many claims for clinical negligence there were against the NHS in each year since 1995; and what percentage of these claims were successful in each year; [123145]
(2) what the total cost to the NHS was of successful claims for clinical negligence in each year since 1995-96 in (a) nominal and (b) real terms. [123146]
Andy Burnham: The following table shows how many claims there have been under the clinical negligence scheme for trusts (CNST) in each year since 1995, what percentage were successful , and the amounts paid out to date in nominal and real terms. The year is based upon the year that the incident was reported to have occurred.
| Number of CNST claims received (including Category A( 1) claims) by incident year as at February 2007 | |||||||
| Incident year( 2) | Yet to settle | Settle— nil damages | Settled with damages | Total | Percentage successful claims of all claims | Total paid on successful claims | Total paid on successful claims in real terms with 2005-06 as reference year( 3) |
| (1) Category A claims are those that fell within the excess claim limit and were handled by individual trusts before the excess was removed in 2002. (2) Claims have been considered in the year that the incident occurred Additional points to note: Claims may still be made for incidents that have yet to be reported within the stated years. Successful claims are those claims that have been settled with damages, including claims which are still open due to legal costs being unresolved or where periodic payments are being made. This means that the costs for those claims will rise over time and therefore the figure will increase. Category A claims were handled by individual trusts and reported to the NHS Litigation Authority. Therefore, the NHS Litigation Authority cannot 100 per cent. validate the accuracy of the data around these claims as the data were not: produced by the NHS Litigation Authority. (3) Real terms calculated using the deflator series provided by HMT on 21 December 2006. | |||||||
NHS: Pay
Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what average pay per head of NHS staff in England was in each year since 1997; and what the average paybill per head was for each NHS organisation in England in the latest year for which figures are available. [123147]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The information has been placed in the Library.
Table 1 shows average paybill per full-time equivalent and average earnings per full-time equivalent for national health service staff in England between 1996-97 and 2005-06. Tables 2a to 2c show average paybill per full-time equivalent by NHS organisation in 2005-06.
NHS: Pensions
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the estimated total staff pensions liability is of the NHS Pensions Agency. [123375]
Caroline Flint:
Total long-term liabilities of the NHS pension scheme accrued to date, and projected until the
death of the last current contributing, deferred and pensioner members, were estimated at £165.4 billion pounds in the resource accounts for 2005-06, spread over approximately 80 years. Gross expenditure on benefits in 2005-06, met through scheme employer and member contributions was £3.78 billion.
Nitrous Oxide
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many prosecutions there have been since 1977 under section 52 of the Medicines Act 1968 for the sale of nitrous oxide; and if she will make a statement. [124761]
Caroline Flint: The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency reports that since 1995 there has been one prosecution involving the sale of nitrous oxide.
There are no records held prior to this date.
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the availability of nitrous oxide for recreational use in nightclubs and bars; and what assessment she has made of the health effects of inhalation of nitrous oxide. [126628]
Caroline Flint: Inhaling nitrous oxide produces a rush caused by oxygen starvation which may result in unconsciousness. There are also thought to be long term effects on the nervous system. All of these risks are likely to be exacerbated if the drug is combined with alcohol or other narcotics. The risks are particularly severe for pregnant women.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has been alerted to increasing reports that nitrous oxide is available for sale in pubs and nightclubs. A number of reports have come from Trading Standards departments within local councils. Local authorities are responsible for the licensing of premises in the pub and nightclub sector.
Officials from MHRA have met with representatives from Local Authority Co-ordinator of Regulatory Services and Trading Standards (LACORS) to discuss the extent of the problem and to explore ways of tackling it. A strategy has been agreed involving joint action by MHRA and Trading Standards.
MHRA is also contacting manufacturers of nitrous oxide and investigating how supplies come to enter the recreational market.
Nutrition
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has to revise the nutrient profiling model used by the Food Standards Agency. [126261]
Caroline Flint: The Food Standards Agency will review impact of agency nutrient profiling model after one year of use. The review process will include a consultative stage.
Obesity: Lancashire
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many children in Lancashire under the age of 12 years were classified as (a) obese and (b) overweight in each of the last five years. [126220]
Caroline Flint: The information is not available in the format requested. Data on obesity and overweight prevalence by Government office region (GOR) are available from the Health Survey for England (HSE). However, due to small sample sizes in each year, data cannot be provided for each of the last five years. The most recent available information which can be provided by GOR combines information from the 2002, 2003 and 2004 HSE to achieve a sufficiently large sample for analysis at this level.
| Prevalence of overweight and obesity among children in the North West Government office region (GOR), by age, 2002-04 | ||
| Percentage/number | ||
| Overweight including obese | Obese | |
| 1. Data are aggregated over the three years, 2002, 2003 and 2004 to achieve a sufficiently large sample for analyse at this level. 2. Unweighted figures are raw unadjusted figures. 3. Weighted figures are adjusted for child selection only and not non-response. Sources: Health Survey for England 2002. The Department of Health Health Survey for England 2003. The Department of Health Health Survey for England 2004. The Information Centre | ||
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